Putting recipes to the Test

The Great Pumpkin Pie

I can already feel it. That manic rush that creeps up from about now and doesn’t fade away until January. That impending sense of doom and awe that the year is nearly over already. That Christmas is around the corner (side note: seriously why do shops put up Christmas crap in SEPTEMBER???? Do you want to give me a panic attack???).

As I discussed in my last post on Green Bean Casserole, Thanksgiving, or Turkey Day as I affectionately call it, is just around the corner. To me it’s almost a pre-game to Christmas. A test run of our now famous spit roasted turkey and the perfect excuse to have a big barbecue with our friends. To me, it’s not Thanksgiving unless there’s pie. Pumpkin Pie that is.

The only time for Pumpkin Pie is around the holidays, or I guess in Australia would even be in June/July when it’s winter. It’s a custardy, creamy filling full of cinnamon, ginger and cloves and to me just tastes like the holidays from when I was a kid. The only time I ever had pumpkin was in a pie. We never had it as a savory dish in my house. I actually never had savory pumpkin (or squash) until I moved to Australia, and I found it a bit weird at first but love it now.

Pumpkin pie is an acquired taste. If you don’t like those spicy sweet desserts that have a lot of cinnamon in them (talking to you mum), then you may as well stop reading now. This is just not the dessert for you. If you’re into that kind of thing, or even Indian or Mexican desserts as they sometimes have cinnamon in them, then by all means keep reading.

Ground cloves, ginger and cinnamon

In The States, there’s pumpkin and then there’s squash. The pumpkins you use to make jack-o-lanterns at Halloween are pumpkins (duh), but everything else is a squash. Don’t ask me why. Quite frankly doesn’t make much sense to me. Just call them all squash or pumpkin dammit! For a pumpkin pie recipe, use whatever pumpkin you want. Test the recipe out with different ones if you’re making some for a crowd. I used butternut pumpkin as it was cheap at the time and also it has a sweeter flavour compared to other pumpkins we have readily available here.

I found this recipe in a book I have called A Taste of America. I bought it off of Booktopia.com.au, but you can also get it on Amazon.com if you’re not in ‘Straya. It’s a pretty hefty book, with over 400 recipes from all over The States. What’s great about the book is it has the imperial and metric measurements already written out (about bloody time a recipe book did that!), and photos of the creation process for each recipe.

If you want to watch my recipe test, you can on my new YouTube channel! Or just click below.

Let’s get started on this bad boy.

Pumpkin Pie from A Taste of America

Pastry Crust

1 1/2 cup (175 g) plain (all purpose) flour

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp (75 g) cold butter, cut into pieces

3 tbsp (40 g) cold white vegetable fat (shortening), cut into pieces

3-4 tbsp (45-60 ml) iced water (3 tbsp is about a shot glass worth)

Pie Filling

1 lb (450 g) cooked or canned pumpkin

1 cup (250 ml) whipping cream

2 eggs

1/2 cup soft brown sugar

4 tbsp (60 ml) golden (light corn) syrup

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

For the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Cut in the butter and fat until it resembles coarse crumbles. Bind with iced water. Wrap in clear film (plastic wrap) and chill for 20 minutes.

Roll out the dough and line a 23 cm (9 inch) pie pan or tin. Trim off the overhang. Roll out the trimmings and cut out leaf shapes. Wet the rim of the pastry case (pie shell) with a brush dipped in water.

Place the dough leaves around the rim of the pastry case. Chill for about 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200 Celsius, 400 Fahrenheit.

Line the pastry case with baking parchment. Fill with baking beans and bake for 12 minutes. Remove paper and beans and bake until golden, 6-8 minutes more. Reduce the heat to 190 Celcius, 375 Fahrenheit.

The Good

While it’s a bit time consuming to make, this recipe actually is pretty darn good. It’s that perfect creamy, custard like texture you expect from a pumpkin pie (trust, I’m an expert!). It would be the perfect dessert after Christmas dinner with a dollop of whipped cream.

The recipe itself also makes the perfect amount of filling for one pie. You won’t have much wastage at all.

The recipe calls for cooked or canned pumpkin. When I was a kid my mum would use Libby’s tinned pumpkin. You can find this at fruit and veggie shops in Australia, but air on the side of caution. There’s tinned pumpkin, and there’s also tinned pumpkin pie filling, with all the spices already added. Read the label very carefully! If you’re conscious about what you’re putting into your body, you may want to steer clear of Libby’s tinned pumpkin/pie filling because of possible additives. Now I say in my video that it’s because it may not be actual pumpkin, but in fact that’s all because of the stupid pumpkin/squash debate. Apparently Libby’s doesn’t use one type of pumpkin in their filling, but instead use a variety of winter “squash” or pumpkin depending on where you are. Seriously who the fuck cares.

Pumpkin puree

Making your own pumpkin puree is super easy. Just make a few slits with a sharp knife in your pumpkin, and bake it a 160 degree Celsius (320 Fahrenheit) oven until a knife can easily cut through. Let it cool and then skin and de-seed and puree. You’ll definitely have more pumpkin on your hands than you’ll need for this recipe, but you can save it for baby food, or other recipes that call for pumpkin puree.

The Bad, but not Inedible

The pie crust is incredibly short. I think it kind of works with the pie filling, but if you have a no fail, go-to pie pastry recipe, use it instead, let me know what the recipe is!

I tried the second test using golden syrup. Golden syrup is readily available here in Australia, whereas light corn syrup is not. I did manage to find light corn syrup at a cake decorating shop, as it’s used to make modelling paste (the stuff some cake decorators use to make figurines, flowers, etc). The golden syrup made the pie way too sweet, that sort of sweetness that sticks to the back of your throat and almost tastes bitter. So if you can find it, definitely use light corn syrup. Light corn syrup gives it that right amount of sweetness without overpowering the filling.

The other issue (well not really an issue, maybe just a translation problem) is that there’s no such thing as whipping cream in Australia. There’s thickened cream, pouring cream, pure cream, cream for cooking, and on and on and on. According to PopSugar, all creams contain 18% milk-fat content. Whipping cream has 30% milk fat content, and heavy whipping cream has 35%. Thickened cream in Australia has a 35% milk fat content and some thickening agents. Since it was the closest in milk fat content to whipping cream this is what I used, and it came out perfectly.

Other than that though, this recipe is a keeper! I wouldn’t change anything about it besides the crust if you want a less short pastry and sticking to the light corn syrup. So have a crack at it, and just maybe this will make it to your table this holiday season. Enjoy!